ARTIST ... Origin
Title  Duration
(Album) [Label]

Sarah HOPKINS & Alan LAMB ....Australia
New Journey 7'20
(Sky Song) [ABC Music]
Very atmospheric and fluid sounds using telegraph wires, cello, overtone singing, whirly instruments and windchimes.

BA BENZÉLÉ PYGMIES ....Central Africa
(a) Women Gathering Mushrooms 5'00
(b) Walking Song 5'17
(c) Boyobi at a Spear Hunting Camp 5'50
(Bayaka) [Ellipsis Arts]
A CD in a 23 x 23 cm book, the music of which is very highly produced and remixed by Bernie KRAUSE into a continuous soundscape, from original recordings by Louis SARNO.

POSSESSION & AFRICAN DUB ....USA
Shadow Crossing 12'25
(Off One World) [SubMeta]
Produced and arranged by Bill LASWELL, with Fousseny KOUYATE, Foday Musa SUSO and Aïyb DIENG.

Shiela CHANDRA ....UK
(a) ABoneCroneDrone2 7'50
(b) ABoneCroneDrone3 7'29
(ABoneCroneDrone) [Real World]

XYLOURIS ENSEMBLE ....Greece / Australia
(a) Mavri Korfi 4'20
(b) Oli Mou Lene Yaida Kles 4'18
(Daphne) [independent]
A new release launched in Melbourne at Aerostato on December 15. A fine disc enhanced by the dark and rich colours of the cello and double bass that are perfectly compatible with the oud and lyra etc. George Xylouris' sister-in-law Diedre Hannan is in top vocal form, and guest oud player Christos Baltsidis gives a great performance. There are 3 original compositions, 4 traditional pieces arranged by the ensemble and one by George's father Psarandonis. The only negative factor is that the album is too short at only 32 mins. I hope it will be priced accordingly.

Chalf HASSAN ....Morocco
Zayani el Rifi 8'27
(Bellydance From Morocco) [ARC Music]
A new ARC release, and a refreshing angle on Arabic rhythms. HASSAN plays oud, tar, bendir and sings. Ahmed ENNAISSE takes an integral part on viola and bendir, as does Mohammed CHALF. I think it is time for ARC to mature a little with the somewhat politically incorrect album covers it flaunts, in this case a scantily clad woman in a striking dance costume against typical arabic architecture. I would dearly like to see the focus shift to the feature musicians, placing them firmly on the front cover. Using more creative album titles with a secondary descriptive part would move their image away from the cheesy "budget" compilation appearance that a first glance invokes, despite this impression being totally inaccurate. A whole new market might unfold to them.

Dursun AÇAR & Fadil SUNA .... Australia
Malemin 3'22
(Kulluka: Where Our Roots Lie) [The Boite - Sandstock]

(a) DANCETRENDAL .... Italy
Radio Balkana 5'05
(b) Danyél WARO .... La Réunion
Barmine 4'26
(Strictly Worldwide x 5) [Piranha]
Just two excellent examples of the high standard and range of material on this superb compilation, following the trend set by the previous discs in this series.